not sure if some of you know this but next year is likely pp's last year on his deal not 2013 season. y? DA had the vision to insist on a team option buyout at $4m (could be worth $5m if pp stays healthy this year). he's not going to pay pp the $22m due. by june 30th, ainge is going to either let pp walk (not likely) or give him a 3 year, 34.5m deal along the lines of kg (must pay him a symbolic 41 more as the captain). right now we are right against the cap or tax threshold. by redoing pp's deal we can save $12m or so off the cap and be able to go after a prime agent or 2. that right there is STRATEGIC PLANNING at its best.

not sure if some of you know this but next year is likely pp's last year on his deal not 2013 season. y? DA had the vision to insist on a team option buyout at $4m (could be worth $5m if pp stays healthy this year). he's not going to pay pp the $22m due. by june 30th, ainge is going to either let pp walk (not likely) or give him a 3 year, 34.5m deal along the lines of kg (must pay him a symbolic 41 more as the captain). right now we are right against the cap or tax threshold. by redoing pp's deal we can save $12m or so off the cap and be able to go after a prime agent or 2. that right there is STRATEGIC PLANNING at its best.Posted by COMMUNIST-CONTRARIAN

are you suggesting that AFTER THIS YEAR, we should sign pierce to 3 more years at 10 million plus a whack???? why try to hold onto what's gone = pierce's time as an elite player?

in this new nba, it's not like even scrubs struggle for personal wealth- look at calvin booth, mark blount- these guys made mega money for actually trying bout 30 games in their careers.

if pierce wants to continue playing past this next year and not retire, AND continue playing in boston, then let him come to the table like KG should have.... CHEAP. if not then you have 22 million tied up between pierce and kg before you even go try to fill out the rest of the 10 roster spots? why??? that's a self inflicted injury right there, nothing short of idiocy. 1/3 of your cap on guys who are no longer centerpieces

In Response to MORE PROPS FOR DANNY ON THE PIERCE CONTRACT : are you suggesting that AFTER THIS YEAR, we should sign pierce to 3 more years at 10 million plus a whack???? why try to hold onto what's gone = pierce's time as an elite player? in this new nba, it's not like even scrubs struggle for personal wealth- look at calvin booth, mark blount- these guys made mega money for actually trying bout 30 games in their careers. if pierce wants to continue playing past this next year and not retire, AND continue playing in boston, then let him come to the table like KG should have.... CHEAP. if not then you have 22 million tied up between pierce and kg before you even go try to fill out the rest of the 10 roster spots? why??? that's a self inflicted injury right there, nothing short of idiocy. 1/3 of your cap on guys who are no longer centerpiecesPosted by aciemvp

In Response to MORE PROPS FOR DANNY ON THE PIERCE CONTRACT : are you suggesting that AFTER THIS YEAR, we should sign pierce to 3 more years at 10 million plus a whack???? why try to hold onto what's gone = pierce's time as an elite player? in this new nba, it's not like even scrubs struggle for personal wealth- look at calvin booth, mark blount- these guys made mega money for actually trying bout 30 games in their careers. if pierce wants to continue playing past this next year and not retire, AND continue playing in boston, then let him come to the table like KG should have.... CHEAP. if not then you have 22 million tied up between pierce and kg before you even go try to fill out the rest of the 10 roster spots? why??? that's a self inflicted injury right there, nothing short of idiocy. 1/3 of your cap on guys who are no longer centerpiecesPosted by aciemvp

Definitely agree with you. Even KG should have resigned for a lot less money this season. Their is no reason that players like KG and Pierce who don't need the money and are at the end of their careers shouldn't want to sign team friendly contracts to help improve the Celtics cap situation. I did hear an analyst mention that he thought that KG could have resigned for a lot less which would have given the Celtics more money to spend on other players. It is an easy concept to understand. This isn't MLB where their is no salary cap and veteran players are many times overpaid and don't earn their salaries at the end of their careers.

In Response to Re: MORE PROPS FOR DANNY ON THE PIERCE CONTRACT : Definitely agree with you. Even KG should have resigned for a lot less money this season. Their is no reason that players like KG and Pierce who don't need the money and are at the end of their careers shouldn't want to sign team friendly contracts to help improve the Celtics cap situation. I did hear an analyst mention that he thought that KG could have resigned for a lot less which would have given the Celtics more money to spend on other players. It is an easy concept to understand. This isn't MLB where their is no salary cap and veteran players are many times overpaid and don't earn their salaries at the end of their careers. Posted by susan250

Susan it would have been nice if he had signed for less. But bottom line was he was still producing at a high level. Who would you rather have for that price, Humphries or Garnett? Omar Asik? He could probably have squeezed more if he wanted to. I would say we still got a pretty good team, wouldn't you?

Why should KG take less than hes worth? Humphries got 2/24 , gerald wallace got 4/40 to resign. Duncan 3/36. KG 3/34 deal is right in line with all of those. Deal is perfectly fair. If you wanna complain about a celtics deal, look no further than jgreen 4/36. OUCH. Half of that deal will be as a backup.Posted by gman101019

Thats exactly what I was referring to. He is worth every penny of it. I guarantee he could gotten that somewhere else.

what a clueless obnoxious troll CC is not only has Pierce's ability to be waived/bought-out after this year been discussed OVER and OVER on this board, the racist pervert blunders his way through another sad attempt at knowledge, claiming Pierce's contract for next season is 22 million when it is around 15. Ignorance follows this man wherver he goes. The bad karma, get every prediction wrong, starved for attention, jinx the team racist blows it again. Don't feed the troll... ughPosted by rameakap

I did not know of this $4M buyout, but could see AInge buying Pierce out and then signing him for 2yrs for maybe a dollar more than Jeff Green per yr (respect for the Captain , one of the all time greatest Celtics)But the Celtics are going young...NO WAY I see Ainge even giving Pierce the 3yr/$27M deal Ray Allen wanted.I see Paul Pierce playing this season and next season as a Celtic and then fufilling his long stated desire to finish his playing career in Italy while he is still young enough to enjoy/dominate. Don't Pierce and Kobe have a pact to finish in Europe together and enjoy living large Europen style ?

WOULN'T BLAME PIERCE ONE BIT IF HE FINISHED IN EUROPE, WHO DOESN'T LOVE ITALIAN AND GREEK FOOD ?

In Response to Re: MORE PROPS FOR DANNY ON THE PIERCE CONTRACT : Susan it would have been nice if he had signed for less. But bottom line was he was still producing at a high level. Who would you rather have for that price, Humphries or Garnett? Omar Asik? He could probably have squeezed more if he wanted to. I would say we still got a pretty good team, wouldn't you?Posted by OneOnOne

In Response to Re: MORE PROPS FOR DANNY ON THE PIERCE CONTRACT : Thats exactly what I was referring to. He is worth every penny of it. I guarantee he could gotten that somewhere else.Posted by OneOnOne

+10000.. fact is these are not robots. you have to include ego in these things as well. i miswrote with the 22m, it is around 15m for next year., was confusing this year's or kg's lasy year's figure with next.. so bloww me you so-called intelligentia. its about the gist and spirit of things not the literal sometimes. fact is pp wont be getting 15m after this year and he clearly knows it. DA fought to add that stipulation.

hey, if the rules change we dont want an old team or stuck with a bunch of bad deals. kg's deal was PERFECT in terms of mutual fairness. you dont cut the man's pay from 22m to less than half. that's the real world, esp when he has a dominant playoff. he could have received a 3 year 40m deal from someone out there. talk about changing a team's culture in a heartbeat, kg is more than just basketball. again, a fair deal. with that as the measure, pp will make less than 11m.. more props to DA. pp is STILL an elite all-star type guy who would have played to it minus his playoff injury (it happens) and will be an all-star AGAIN next year as he AGAIN leads the team in scoring and to the promised land. jeff green got 9m for thats what the MARKET dictates.

someone would have paid about that for him to be a STARTER. i get the logic. in time, pp could be moved to sg with green starting at the 3. or have green start at 4 with pp at 3 or vice versa. this team has tons of versatility. no need to overplay or rush anyone back during the reg season. pp will likely be offered half his pay as a starting point. if he stays healthy and has a typical pp season, we are talking 9.5m for THREE YEARS (being the all-time leading scorer matters)... AFTER these last FOUR years, it will be green's time and pp will be coming off the bench at best (if not retiring) or moving along).